Cranfield Trust Reception at 2 Temple Place 8/3/2011

 As a Cranfield MBA from the year of 1977! I joined the Cranfield Trust soon after it started and have been able to act as a consultant on their behalf to charities, a few times. The work its many members do for an astounding range of charities and societies is wonderful and gives much satisfaction to the participants.

I was invited to this years reception in the beautiful surroundings of 2 Temple Place the base of The Bulldog Trust. I offered to bring my cameras a Fuji Finepix S5 pro with Nikon SB800 Flash & A Gary Fong Lightsphere II diffuser  for flash photography and a Leica M9 and to take some pictures of the event, whilst participating in the conviviality and you can see more of what I saw in a slideshow.

Rodrigo Titian creates some armchairs

Rodrigo Titian and his team at Titian Studios have been commissioned to create a pair of armchairs by a client based on an antique sofa design. I was asked to photograph them at an early sage of their creation and will return in two weeks to photograph the finished pieces in all their glory. It is a labour of love and involves an impressive range of skills.

 You can see more pictures from this shoot in a slideshow.

Rodrigo Titian gives a Gilding Class for BAFRA at Titian Studio 12/6/2010

On Saturday I was privileged to attend and photograph, a class on Water Gilding, by master restorer, Rodrigo Titian of Titian Studio to members of BAFRA, the British Antique Furniture Restorers Association.

 The Studio restores a vast range of items and I first photographed some of the workshop areas with their multiplicity of tools and materials.

Then the class started with Rodrigo introducing himself and the studio and then a step by step display and explanation of all the processes involved in gilding.

Words like jesso, comp, rabbitskin glue, yellow clay, red clay were revealed as were the techniques and tricks to apply them. The sheer range of knowledge, skill and craft, with a need for sensitivity and aesthetic sophistication was amazing and everyone left, with copious notes and a need to practice their new skills.

You can see more pictures in the slideshow.

Reportage Style wedding photography

 I like photographing events reportage style, as I like telling stories.

  Here in a slideshow are a selection of images of four weddings I have covered in this way.

Summer is here! A swarm of bees in Fulham!!

We were sunbathing on our roof this weekend, when we began to hear a loud buzzing sound.

Looking up and towards our rear neighbours house, we quickly saw the source of the noise, a bee hive in the neighbours roof space and some very agitated bees!

They got noisier and noisier and we saw the neighbour phoning someone and looking at the swarm.

Little by little they slipped into the hole in the wall and quietened down.

We hope they get sorted soon.

A recent commission - Farrar - The Kensington & Chelsea Property Specialists

I recently got commissioned to photograph all 28 Directors and staff of Farrar at their 152 Fulham Road, London SW10 9PR offices.

A 2 hour appointment was set up, and I arrived 10 minutes early and created a mini studio in the main office with a backdrop, my Elinchrom flash equipment and arranged it with a soft-box top left just off centre over the camera (a Fuji Finepix S5 Pro), and a small reflector with 20 degree round honeycomb on the right.

I then had each person for no more than 5 minutes, pointed out and corrected untidy ties, messy hair etc., established a quick rapport and got each one at ease in front of the camera and squeezed off between 3 and 8 shots. I was most impressed that all 28 turned up within the 2 hour time frame despite being in two neighbouring offices, visiting clients, handling queries and so on.

A selection from the resulting images which were to be delivered in Black & White were approved by the client and will shortly appear on a new website and be used in marketing materials.

You can see my selection of the 28 portraits in this slideshow.

Artisan No. 6 Lucy Churchill - Carver, Mason and Lettercutter

As part of my Artisan project, photographing British craftsmen and women who excel in their sphere of expertise, I went to Cambridge to see how Lucy Churchill created tombstones that tell a story.

What I found was a marriage between the old and the new, designs first sketched in pencil, then re-created on a laptop, then modelled in plaster and measured in a grid and marked out and cut.

You can see more of the pictures I took in a slideshow

Artisan No.4 - Jonathan Woolston - Violin Maker

A couple of days ago I photographed Jonathan Woolston, the violin maker in his studio in Cambridge for my Artisans project.

The level of skill, knowledge, passion and manual dexterity displayed was amazing, using a wide range of tools and devices, each of which left very little room for error.

What I had thought was moulded wood is in fact carved in a surprisingly vigorous way at times as shown by this flying shaving.

You can see more pictures in a slideshow.

Eating at St John with the LondonEater

Last week I had the privilege of trying out a new (for me) restaurant with Kang Leong, foodie, photographer and restaurant guide who tells all through his blog the LondonEater.

As Kang says "LondonEater is a London foodblog which writes about the best places to eat. It is an online restaurant guide which helps you keep up to date with the latest developments in the London food scene. New restaurant reviews are released every Tuesday and Friday. The Must Go List is updated on the 15th of every month and lists eight great places for you to try. If you love food, you’ve come to the right place. "

We went to St John in Farringdon which as Kang states in his blog is "currently the 14th best restaurant in the world. Opened by Fergus Henderson in 1994; St John restaurant at St John Road has since been awarded a Michelin star and is well-known for utilising offal and neglected cuts, in what he calls the ‘nose to tail’ concept."


His description of the restaurant and the delicious food we ate there is far better than anything I can write. I took my camera and captured some details of what I had. Marrow bones with Parsley salad - simple but delightful.

Roast pigeon with courgettes, was a bit too rare for my taste, but the simple but robust flavours blended well.
The apricot crumble was quite simply amazing, with a hint of bitterness from the apricots that adding zing to a sublimely sweet dish. Sharing the experience with Andy and then reading what he wrote about it was a bonus and confirms in my mind that he is a food critic and guide to watch out for.

Artisan No 3 Wes Maebe - Sound Engineer

Yesterday, I photographed Wes Maebe at the legendary RAK Studios as the 3rd Artisan in my project to celebrate excellence through portraits of British craftsmen whose hands turn common stuff into something special. In this case - a massager of sounds!


We were joined by guitarist Elliott Randall, session musician par excellence and lead guitarist of Steely Dan and to be remembered for ever with his guitar solo on Reelin in the years.


A selection of images from the shoot can be seen in a slideshow. I used my trusty Fuji Finepix S5 Pro and my Leica M8 and Elinchrom lights along with some handheld Nikon flash and we were ably supported by Rob. Thanks to RAK Studios for letting us do it and to enryone involved for making it so much fun! cool music included!!

My latest portrait commission - in a WAAF Uniform

My most recent client found me, by searching for "Photographers in London" and amongst the one or two! displayed under that category, selected me for her interesting assignment. Her grandmother had been a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in the WWII as shown on the left.


She wanted a picture of herself in a WAAF Uniform to give as a birthday present. She went to the hairdresser and had her done up in the right style and made herself up to match and the resulting photos taken on my roof terrace with a Fuji Finepix S5 Pro, Nikon SB800 flash and Gary Fong Lightsphere II came out absolutely wonderfully as shown on the right above.

I had taken photos of an RAF flypast last year and added them to the pose below.



The client's father restores old planes and sent me a picture of a Spitfire which I was able to use as a background for another shot, thanks to PhotoShop.



If you have any comments on your WAAF experiences, do please send make them, or if you need your portrait taken, in some special uniform or circumstance, for a special occasion or reason, do get in touch and lets make it happen!